As Greece prepares to open to 27 airports on July 1, the General Secretariat for Civil Protection has reminded tourists to “Enjoy your stay and stay safe” as part of a new health information campaign.
The General Secretariat for Civil Protection issued 9 Directives to take the necessary measures to protect against COVID-19 disease. The information campaign is fully in line with the information base of the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.
Messages will be located at all entry points (airports and ports) and will be available in three languages – English, French and German. Flyers will also be distributed to travellers.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced as early as May that Greece would be ready to accept foreign tourists as of July 1, with the Greek Prime Minister intending to go ahead with the planned strategy.
“We want a greater slice from a much smaller pie – the European pie. The European tourism pie is smaller, but this summer we want a bigger piece,” he said during a teleconference organised by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
“The better you do in managing the health crisis, the faster the economy will revive,” he underlined.
The leaders of Greece and Turkey spoke by phone Friday, the prime minister’s office says, after months of increasing tension between the two countries.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused on the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and issues relating to the reopening of borders and tourist visits after the end of lockdowns triggered by the virus, Mitsotakis’ office said.
The two “agreed to maintain bilateral channels of communication open,” it said in a statement.
Tension has been high between the two neighbors and NATO allies in recent months. Greece has accused Turkey of using migrants to pressure Greece, after Ankara declared in late February that Turkey’s borders to the European Union were open to all those who wanted to cross.
Thousands of migrants gathered at Turkey’s border with Greece, demanding to be allowed in. Similar scenes didn’t play out on Turkey’s border with EU member Bulgaria.
Greece and Turkey are also at loggerheads over oil and gas exploration rights in the Mediterranean and over territorial issues in the Aegean Sea dividing the two countries. The two have come to the brink of war three times since the mid-1970s.
According to official in Athens with knowledge of the discussions, the two leaders didn’t discuss anything related to the disputes, but agreed that the level of tension was too high and that direct communication at the highest level would be helpful and should continue.
Discussions focused on broader talks within the EU on the access of nationals from third countries when borders open to tourists. The official said Greece doesn’t in principle object to supporting Turkey’s inclusion in the list of countries that would have access.
The official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the details of the call, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Cheers exploded across the Trans-Tasman region this morning as people woke up finding out Australia and New Zealand had won the joint bid to hold the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The two nations beat out opposing bidders Columbia in every criteria – stadiums, team and referee facilities, accommodation, International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and competition-related event sites and commercial.
As a result, Australia and New Zealand scored 4.1 out of five on the report with Colombia totalling 2.9.
FIFA Council president Gianni Infantino and Secretary-General Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura present Australia and New Zealand the official hosting certificate. (FIFA)
FIFA Council president Gianni Infantino said himself, upon the announcement, that the FIFA tournament will be the “best World Cup ever, in Australia and New Zealand.”
“It will be even more global and have much positive impact on the development of women’s football,” Mr Infantino said.
After announcing Australia and New Zealand as the victors, FIFA released the official list of votes placed by FIFA Council members.
Official list of votes placed by FIFA Council members. Photo: FIFA
However, that image may look confusing to anyone who doesn’t know where each Council member is from. To make it easier for readers, here is a full list of countries that voted against Australia.
Alejandro Dominguez – CONEMBOL President
Aleksander Ceferin – UEFA President
Sandor Csanyi – Hungarian Football Fédération
Greg Clark – The English FA
Fernando Sarney – Brazil
Maria Sol Munoz – Ecuador
Evelina Christillin – Italy
Dejan Savicevic – Montenegro
Alexey Sorokin – Russia
Fernando Gomes – Portugal
George (Georgios) Koumas – Cyprus
Noel Le Graet – France
Ignacio Alonso – Uruguay
It is completely expected that the South American nations would vote for their Columbian neighbours. However, it must be noted that every participating European nation voted against Australia and New Zealand’s joint bid.
FIFA Council president Gianni Infantino admitted he was just as surprised to see UEFA vote in favour of Colombia, yet refused to criticise the decision, calling it “democracy”.
All fingers were pointed at English FA boss Greg Clarke after voting against the joint bid, with FFA chief executive James Johnson left unamused at Englands actions.
FFA chief executive James Johnson left unamused at Englands vote. Photo: The Women’s Game
“I actually don’t find it very funny,” Johnson told Fox Sports.
“I think that was quite disrespectful to be perfectly honest with you.
“It was a process that was, I think, run very well by FIFA. We scored very highly on a report that was an objective report.
“We know now what the voting was like, and I must say we are disappointed with the way that the FA voted.”
Not only the English FA, but Cyprus Football Association president George Koumas tagged on the back of the UEFA board members in their bid for Columbia.
The Matildas and White Ferns have been big supporters of the Cyprus Women’s Cup since it’s inauguration in 2008, with the two teams participating for a total of 10 years combined.
Yet, it is the pressure of UEFA that has forced every European nations hand into voting together, recognising the combined votes as a “matter of solidarity.”
“Even though the Colombian bid was not the one rated highest technically by FIFA, European members of the FIFA Council felt that it represented a strategic opportunity for the development of women’s football in South America thanks to the legacy and increase of attention for the women’s game that the tournament would bring to the continent,” UEFA said in a statement, supporting their vote for Colombia.
“It was a choice between two countries – Australia and New Zealand – where women’s football is already strongly established, and a continent where it still has to be firmly implanted and has a huge development potential.”
The FFA chief executive said it best; “We know now what the voting was like…”
It’s a shame that after UEFA pledged their support to end corruption in Greek soccer, that they too are guilty of voting for political purposes and not for the benefit of the tournament.
The registration period for the Certificate of Attainment in Greek will be open until June 28, 2020, with applicants to be examined on October in Sydney.
The Certificate of Attainment in Greek is the only national, officially recognised by the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs certificate that confirms the knowledge of Greek as a foreign/second language at 6 levels.
Established in 1998, The Certificate of Attainment in Greek responds to a persisting request of all learners of Greek as a Second/Foreign Language in Greece and abroad for a state certificate of attainment.
The three lower levels (A1, A2, and B1) examine all four language skills (Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking). The three higher levels (B2, C1, and C2), apart from the four language skills, examine Use of Language focusing on grammar (morphology and syntax) and on vocabulary.
Candidates under the age of 16 are advised not to take part in the B2, C1 and C2 examinations, due to the content requiring knowledge of the Greek culture that is not expected of younger candidates.
The examinations are completed by more than 100 candidates from NSW each year, with certificates awarded to successful candidates by the Consul General of Greece at a ceremony hosted by the University of Sydney.
Decades may pass and people’s tastes change but some businesses have such enormous reputations that they are not impacted at all- their high quality product becomes legendary!!! One of those legendary businesses is definitely Paul’s Famous Hamburgers at Sylvania- which has incredibly operating since 1957!!! Here is part one of its story…
Paul Zerefos, from Neapolis, and Katina Andronicos, from Avlemonas, Kythera, migrated to Australia in 1926 and 1927 respectively; they married in 1936 and ran a series of businesses in Scone, Glenn Innes, Moree, Bondi Beach, and two in Hurstville before they bought a property at 12 Princes Highway, Sylvania, with the vision to build and open a mini market; according to Paul and Katina’s daughter, Helen Zerefos OAM, it was Katina’s brainwave to separate the proposed shop into two and start a tiny hamburger bar, According to Paul, Katina had never cooked a hamburger in her life!
Opening day was all ready for the shops when Katina realised there was no sign for the hamburger menu and she called out to Helen to make one up, and she recalls, ‘I looked around for something to write a sign on and found a large sheet of white painted tin with a Coca Cola logo on it. I quickly traced out with pencil our original menu and prices. When Mother OK’d it I looked around for something to fill in the letters and figures. It was too late to go out and buy crayons or paints. I looked in my large handbag, found a bottle of red nail polish and used that to paint the details of our first menu!’
Crowds outside Paul’s Famous Hamburgers.
And Katina’s hamburgers were an immediate smash hit, ‘Mother was a fabulous gourmet cook, but instinctively knew that what was needed in the area was a good wholesome basic tasty snack – this was long before MaDonalds! She set about devising her hamburger which simply was to be a lovely toasted bread roll buttered, plenty of fresh lettuce and tomato, the meat patty covered by lots of cooked onion, all cooked with butter-oil (Ghee), then topped with tomato sauce. The extras at the beginning were egg and bacon, later came the cheese and pineapple. She did not sell anything else in her section of the shop as she wanted to specialise in her hamburgers. Mother named the entire place, “Pauls”, after dad.’
All three children, Helen, Bill and late Bubsie (Florence), worked in the shop, as well as other staff.
Helen recalls how Katina’s hamburgers became legendary, ‘Mother had created a monster with “her” hamburgers – they became famous! The crowds came from all over Sydney! We worked so hard for many years and sweated through many heatwaves making those hamburgers in that small section.’
The First Menu Sign ….which Helen Zerefos had to draw and paint.
Despite Helen beginning an illustrious career in show business, and appearing weekly on national television, she still worked in the family business, as she admits, ‘Time permitting – family is family!’ Helen has many instances where customers recognised her behind the counter, “Aren’t you Helen Zerefos?” and on one occasion, one customer was telling another customer what a terrific singer the person making the hamburgers was – to which the second person replied, “Well if she’s so great, what’s she doing here?”
And whenever Helen travelled overseas, Katina always asked her to keep her eyes open for any new ideas for her hamburgers; upon her return, Helen would always say, “No Mum, they’re still the best in the world.”
Paul passed away in 1981, and Katina suffered terribly from this loss.
In the early 1990s, Helen was in the local video shop and recounts a story of a man approaching her and said, “Excuse me Miss Zerefos, I’ve always wanted to speak to you and tell you that some years ago, my mother-in-law was out from England. One Saturday lunchtime, we took her down to your family’s shop to get some hamburgers and you were there. We ate our hamburgers under nearby Tom Uglys Bridge. That night we took her to the Opera House and I said to her, ‘See that girl on the stage, she made your hamburger at lunchtime!’ My mother-in-law couldn’t get over it!”
In the early 1980s, Bill and his wife took over the shop; despite the mini market being a successful business venture, they closed it and used the extra space to extend “Paul’s Famous Hamburgers”. They maintained the high quality hamburgers, the business continued to grow and people continued to come from all over Sydney for “Paul’s Famous Hamburgers”.
After forty one years in the family, they sold the business “Paul’s Famous Hamburgers” to Nick and Sandra Sinesiou and family.
The graffiti is on one of the 48 telecommunications primary cross-connection boxes in Palaio Faliro that had been ‘renovated’ by the “Pictures and Dreams” group.
The Milwaukee Bucks star has been a strong representative for the American “Black Lives Matter” movement. Giannis Antetokounmpo, his family and some of his Milwaukee Bucks teammates joined a protest rally in Milwaukee in the beginning of June, demanding justice in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing.
“We want change, we want justice, and that’s why we’re out here. That’s what we’re going to do today. That’s why I’m going to march with you,” Antetokounmpo said.
“I want my kid to grow up here in Milwaukee, and not to be scared to walk in the streets. I don’t want my kid to have hate in his heart.”
Australia and New Zealand, in a joint bid labelled “As One 2023”, have won the historic bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The trans-Tasman nations beat out that of Colombia by 22 votes to 13 at the FIFA Council meeting in Zurich early this morning.
The tournament will be the first co-confederation-hosted FIFA World Cup (Australia, being part of the Asian football confederation and New Zealand a member of the Oceanic branch), as well as the first FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in the Asia-Pacific region.
Scenes of players and FFA officials cheering with passion showered social media after the announcement was made in the early hours of this morning.
FIFA Council president Gianni Infantino proposed that the FIFA tournament will be the “best World Cup ever, in Australia and New Zealand.”
“It will be even more global and have much positive impact on the development of women’s football,” Mr Infantino said.
The announcement was marked by the sails of the Sydney Opera House, which lit up with fireworks and confetti behind the iconic image of Matildas captain Sam Kerr backflipping in celebration.(Twitter: The Matildas)
Football Federation Australia chairman Chris Nikou said the successful bid was an enormous opportunity to grow football in the region.
“FIFA today has made not one, but two countries very happy,” Mr Nikou said.
“Our pledge to the FIFA family is that no stone will be left unturned to produce the best World Cup and grow the women’s game globally and in the Asia-Pacific region.”
FIFA Council president Gianni Infantino and Secretary-General Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura present Australia and New Zealand the official hosting certificate. (FIFA)
The proposed Australian venues include the Sydney Football Stadium, ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide, HBF Park in Perth, AAMI Park in Melbourne, McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle and York Park in Launceston.
The New Zealand venues are Eden Park in Auckland, Wellington Regional Stadium, Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, Waikato Stadium and Christchurch Stadium.
ANZ Stadium is the proposed venue for the final while Eden Park in Auckland will likely host the opening ceremony and opening match.
Speaking after the vote, Infantino slammed speculation that the Women’s World Cup was held in a lower regard to the men’s tournament.
“It is not a development tournament, obviously it is not a development tournament,” he said. “It’s not just a Women’s World Cup, it’s a World Cup, we need to realise that. Women are fifty per cent of the population.”
Collectively, the Australian and New Zealand federal governments will contribute nearly $110 million towards operational costs.
The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has issued new guidelines on how priests at Greek Orthodox churches can safely dispense communion, with one method including the switch to disposable spoons for communion.
“The synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has offered the liberty to the priests to address this emergency situation by temporarily distributing Holy Communion using multiple spoons that are dedicated for only that purpose and belonging to the local parish,” the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said in an announcement on Thursday.
Holy Communion is usually dispensed with a shared spoon, yet due to the spike of infections in America and other countries, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has allowed the use of disposable spoons.
Ecumenical Patriarchate Acts on Mode of Distribution of Holy Communion https://t.co/Gn5Y9IDt4F
— The Orthodox Observer (@OrthoObserver) June 25, 2020
The synod’s decision, said the archdiocese, “is not only consistent with the wisdom of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but it underscores what His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros has affirmed since the beginning of the crisis: ‘It is not the way we receive, it is the Communion itself that saves us and gives us eternal life’.”
In the opening weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ecumenical Patriarchate strongly recommended that “all the faithful adhere to the official directives of the World Health Organization” and the laws of the country they live in.
Whilst the Patriarchate does encourage the faithful to comply with all the health guidelines provided by WHO, he also says that “Holy Communion is ‘the antidote to mortality’ and remains firm in its Orthodox teaching regarding the Holy Eucharist.”
The Hellenic Initiative Australia will be supporting more than 2100 homeless and rough sleepers in Athens and Piraeus, over the next 12 months through an AU$35,000 grant to Emfasis Foundation.
This is the third year that THI Australia is supporting the Mobile Support Units (MSU) – Mobilising Lives program, enabling Emfasis to provide critical outreach services at a time when there are increasing fears of a further rise in homelessness in Greece due to economic impact of COVID-19.
It follows a special AU$10,000 grant from THI Australia in May to support extra relief and emergency measures implemented by Emfasis in response to COVID-19.
Over the past 12 months, the number of people assisted by Emfasis increased by 35 percent. There was also a 60 percent increase in food items distributed, primarily due to spike in demand during the COVID-19 lockdown period, when the majority of social services were suspended.
The Hellenic Initiative Australia President, Nicholas Pappas AM, praised Emfasis for its ability to continuously respond and adapt to the changing needs of vulnerable populations.
“Through our partnership with Emfasis over the past three years, THI Australia has witnessed the MSU become a reliable, trusted and effective support for people experiencing multiple forms of homelessness, including many elderly people and destitute families,” Mr Pappas said.
“As well as providing relief items like food and survival kits, Emfasis’ follow-up care has been outstanding and has helped people find temporary housing and employment and receive essential medical care,” Mr Pappas said.
Emfasis co-founder Maria Karra says there has been an increase in the number of neighbourhoods where the two MSU teams operate regular shifts.
“As a result of THI Australia’s continued support, our consistent presence on the streets and neighbourhoods in the capital has been extended to cover 14 municipalities in the Attica prefecture, enabling us to support and empower more people,” she said.
“We aim to help people reintegrate into society and are particularly pleased that in the past year our streetworkers have assisted 23 people to find employment and another 25 with temporary accommodation while we continue to work on longer term solutions.”
According to 2019 data released this month by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), 30 percent of Greeks were last year at risk of poverty and social exclusion, despite disposable incomes posting a small increase. At the height of the economic crisis in 2014 the figure had reached 36 percent.
There is growing concern that the effects of the financial hardship caused by COVID-19 will emerge over the coming months, particularly for those dependent on the tourism industry.
Since 2018, THI Australia committed $123,000 to the Emfasis, with the number of people assisted annually increasing from 900 to 2000.
Ms Karra says that despite efforts to revive the tourist season, it will not be sufficient to sustain the seasonal jobs market, particularly for less skilled workers.
“Many financially and socially vulnerable people, who are reliant on summer work, will find themselves with either no income or severely reduced income for an extended period of time,” she says.
“We have already received 30 percent more calls from families in despair who are unable to pay for their rent and face the risk of being evicted.
“The support from THI Australia remains more vital than ever,” Ms Karra said.
Following the recent reports of a coordinated attack on Archbishop Makarios, due to his overwhelming popularity and the response from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia on June 18 2020, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has released a statement of support for His Eminence.
As Romfea.gr reports, in the same statement, issued after the end of the three day convention (June 23-25) that was conducted in the Orthodox Centre Of The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Geneva, the Holy Synod and Partriarche Bartholomew also confirmed the suspension of Father Damaskinos for 6 months and the condemnation of Bishop Nikandros for alleged trouble he is causing within the circles.
The statement, translated from Greek to English, can be found below:
a) It expresses its full support for the personality and the praiseworthy work of the new Pastor, Rev. Archbishop Makarios, Hierarch of education and dynamic pastoral care.
b) He expresses strong dissatisfaction with Rev. The Metropolitan of Erinoupolis, Mr. Nikandros, for his incompatibility with the affairs of the Throne, and…
c) With satisfaction, it is noted that by the Bishop of Agios Oros, Ecumenical Patriarch, imposes a sentence of six months imprisonment by all the Hieromonks of the Holy Mother of God, the Sacrament of the Blessed Virgin Mary (ἐκ τοῦ Κελλίου). The Koutloumousiou Monastery, for its completely illegal and scandalous action to the detriment of The Archbishop of Australia, instead of praying for him and his son-in-law.
